June 2005 NeighborhoodNews-Dacula-HamiltonMill-Harbins-HogMountain-Auburn-Lawrenceville Page 15

Dad’s Great Big Miracle Day!

Benjamin, the preemie, chose life!

6-pound newborn
miraculously
beats rare fetal
disorder after
17 days
By Glenn Matlock
Even his doctors say it’s a miracle little
Benjamin, the preemie, is alive today.
There were plenty of reasons for him not
to make it.
Six pounds at birth and taken suddenly
by caesarian section 42 days premature,
he came into this world burdened with an
extremely rare disorder – fetal maternal
transfusion. The condition causes the fetus
to give blood to the mother in the womb,
but it gets none in return.
A normal hematocrit reading for a newborn,
the infant’s percentage of red blood cells,
is between 35 and 60 percent. Anything
under 15 percent can cause cardiac failure.
Benjamin’s reading after the caesarian was
10 percent, said Steve Hill, the father.
“The nurses gave Benjamin an O Negative Above left, Steve and Martha Hill
blood transfusion. Without a transfusion family enjoy a little togetherness
they couldn’t tell what his blood type was. with son Jonathan and daughter
His red cell count was undetectable because Abigail after bringing baby Ben-
they couldn’t find any blood,” Steve said. jamin home from the hospital.
Benjamin’s doctors and his nurses couldn’t
Above right, Dad and son snuggle.
see a chance under heaven that the preemie
would survive. The resident neonatologist At right, Benjamin struggles to
at Eastside Medical Center, who was called survive while in an induced coma
in to save the child, had not seen a similar hooked up to a ventilator. Bottom
condition in 10 years. The delivery doctor left, Martha gives her newborn
told the family in 15 years of medical son a little love and attention to
practice he’d never seen a newborn look help him along. Far right top, a
so bad and still be alive. He called the lily-
recovered Benjamin hangs on
white child, a “still-born with a heartbeat,”
Steve said. tight to mom’s hand. Bottom far
Everything had been going well with right, Benjamin takes it all in only
Martha’s first eight months of pregnancy. six days after his life and death
She already had given birth to two healthy struggle began.
children, so there was little reason for
concern. However, on April 9, with a little respond, they were mildly concerned.
more than a month remaining until May 22, However, when Steve fell suddenly silent,
her due date, something went wrong. The Martha became seriously concerned.
pending crisis might have gone undetected Typically, Steve would have nagged her
deep inside the womb, but as if prompted, about the baby constantly.
“Because I didn’t ask again, Martha Photos by Glenn Matlock and Steve Hill
the expectant father expressed timely
concern. became more concerned. We were both out could not hear a heartbeat. They ordered him … doing a good job,’ she said. “They
“It all started on that Saturday, when we of character,” he said. “By dinner, I really an ultrasound and discovered the child was never told me how he looked, but I knew
were doing yard work,” Steve said. “I hadn’t said anything and went to bed.” not moving or breathing the fluid within the something serious was wrong because they
nonchalantly looked over at Martha and As for the typically placid Martha, she womb at regular intervals. The umbilical wouldn’t answer me. I’m lying on the table
asked, ‘have you felt the baby move today?’ couldn’t sleep and the baby had still not cord wasn’t wrapped around his neck and half numb. ‘Would you tell me something?’
She said, ‘No, but he naps and sleeps and moved. At one point, her son Jonathan there appeared to be no reason for the child I heard them call for O negative blood and
stuff. It’s not uncommon.’” crawled into bed with her. to be responding in this manner. then they took him out.”
Steve insisted that the baby be monitored “I went to put Jonathan back in bed and “They finally found a heartbeat. We were After communicating with the doctor for
for the remainder of the day. There were when I got back, I tried to get the baby to relieved! At that point, we wondered if he the first time, Steve found himself stepping
no strong impressions, his sudden concern respond again and still nothing,” she said. was even alive,” Steve said. through a minefield of medical jargon.
simply came from out of the blue, he said. “At that point I nudged Steve and said ‘I’m A decision was made to take the child “We have a very sick child on our hands,”
Of course, it wasn’t unusual for Steve calling the doctor.’” through caesarean section. It was a risky the doctors told him. The doctor explained
to express concern about his unborn Steve believes that was a critical moment call, but doctors felt the child would have a about anemia, blood, etc. He told Steve
son. Steve’s known to be a “borderline for Benjamin. If Martha had rolled over better chance surviving outside the womb, the family needed to prepare for severe
hypochondriac” – always checking the and gone to sleep, chances are slim that Steve said. mental impairment and severe movement
children’s well being, Martha said. Despite Benjamin would be with us,” Steve said. Shocked by what they saw on delivery, impairment in the child.
the agonizing days that lay ahead, the family the medical team rushed the child out of “From my point of view, I looked down
now sees that moment as Benjamin’s “first The call was made and the doctors the room without explanation and without at the baby hooked up to a ventilator and
miracle.” ordered Martha immediately to the hospital allowing Martha to see him. lots of stuff and couldn’t perceive the
When the Hills failed to get the child to for testing. Initially, the attending nurses “Staff would say, ‘oh, they’re working with See Benjamin page 24
Page 24
The Hill’s strong Christian faith bouyed them throughout
Benjamin from page 15
level of sickness the doctor
was explaining. Things about
circulation and how because
there was no circulation that cells
weren’t able to release the toxins
in the blood and now that they are
being released they’re releasing
at the same time,” Steve said.
Although Benjamin was moving
well at this point, sudden lights or
movement negatively impacted
his oxygen levels. To sedate the
child, the doctor induced a three-
day coma and hooked the child up
to their most powerful oscillating
ventilator.
Through it all, Martha had God-
given peace about Benjamin’s
prospects, she said.
“It is the most amazing thing
I’ve experienced,” she said. “I
can tell you where it came from
(God), but I can’t explain it. I was
just upset because I couldn’t see
Benjamin. I didn’t see him for 14
hours. I couldn’t hold him and I
couldn’t feed him. That was the
hardest thing for me - the small
stuff. The big stuff I had a peace
about.”
It was the Hill’s strong Christian
faith that buoyed them throughout,
they said.
“There was one thought that
carried me throughout the whole
thing,” Martha said. “Knowing
that if I had waited a couple of
hours he would have been dead.
God chose to save him right at the
point of death. That gave me the
faith that He would bring about it
NeighborhoodNews-Dacula-HamiltonMill-Harbins-HogMountain-Auburn-Lawrenceville
fully.”
The Bible says God won’t put
more on you than you can bear,
but I believe that He puts more
than you think you can bear so
you’ll depend on His strength to
get though it, Steve said.
“With God’s help, I believe we
can face anything Benjamin’s
future throws at us,” he said.
The family asked members at
their Gwinnett Vineyard Church
to pray. E-mails began circulating
wildly among church members.
Steve provided everyone with
daily updates complete with
photographs. The e-mail spread
far beyond the Vineyard to
other church members who also
prayed.
Benjamin’s condition began
to stabilize and the family was
provided with another option
regarding Benjamin’s uncertain
future – terminate treatment and
pull the plug.
“That was probably the hardest
moment of the whole experience
for me – that the doctor told me I
could kill my child,” Martha said.
“The doctor said, ‘I wouldn’t
do it, but it’s an option I have
to present to you.’ I can’t even
describe how it feels to even think
about [killing my baby].”
We had already made our choice,
but I think if they had pulled the
plug, Benjamin still would have
lived. He was determined, Steve
said.
At the time, not everyone on the
medical staff thought the Hills
had made the right choice, but six
days after it all began, Benjamin
had recovered enough to come
off the ventilator. Steve felt he
was strong enough to go home
then.
“One of the nurses told me to my
face … she said ‘among ourselves,
we were fairly convinced you all
didn’t have all the information
– that you made an uninformed
decision when you chose to
keep [Benjamin] alive. We were
so convinced that you would be
taking home a vegetable that
would be tube fed the rest of his
life - that he may be a cute baby
now but he is going to be your
size, Mr. Hill,” Steve said.
Seeing the baby’s miraculous
recovery so amazed the nurse, she
later told Steve she believed the
baby was “marching toward the
light. He was just about there, but
someone told him to turn back.”
Despite the progress, she still had
reservations and began to prepare
the family for what might lay
ahead. She told them to expect the
child’s recovery to take two steps
forward and one step back. Just
being a preemie is rough. Having
all these other complications only
makes it more difficult, she told
the family.
But Benjamin had other plans.
By day six, the anemia was no
longer an issue. By day seven,
“super baby” emerged from
his cocoon of darkness. Little
Benjamin never took one step
backward, Steve said. After seven
days, he came off all ventilators,
breathing on his own and acting
like a normal baby – doing well,
gaining a pound a day not on a
bottle, but breast feeding.
Benjamin behaving like a normal
baby – this was the “second
miracle,” the Hills pointed out.
“[An early recovery] was way
above and beyond what they
expected considering the severe
oxygen deprivation. They can’t
explain it,” he said. “He should
have had massive kidney failure
aside from more serious things
like cerebral palsy, he should have
had organ shutdown. He should
have had cardiac failure.
“Every time I would go down
there and hold Benjamin, a
different nurse would poke her
head in smile and say, ‘it is just
amazing.’ One nurse and even one
of his doctors called it ‘a miracle.’
There’s not one nurse down in
that unit that doesn’t know they
have seen something happen
above and beyond. The Christian
nurses know what happened. One
Christian nurse told me, ‘we need
to see this every now and again.
We need to know that God still
works.’”
After enduring a brutal 17-day
fight for life, Benjamin went
home on April 27. As for his part,
this six-pound caesarian baby
- the preemie already “dead” or
handicapped at best in the eyes of
his medical caregivers – chose life.
All he needed was professional
medical care and the faith of a
committed father and mother.
June 2005
The Hills’ prayers were
answered, but there are those who
may wonder why other children
perish when just as many prayers
are offered?
“God chose to save Benjamin;
we don’t know why,” Steve
said. “There are no seven steps
to success with prayer and with
faith that say if we take all the
right steps we’re going to get a
programmed response from God.
He doesn’t work like a voodoo
doll. You can’t poke him in certain
places and make him do things.”
The Hills have no greater fears or
expectations for Benjamin’s future
than they do their other two young
children, Jonathan and Abigail.
The Hill’s have peace about the
future, but understand they have
to rely on God every step of the
way.
This sense of peace is their third
miracle, Steve said.
“Once we said, ‘OK- God’s
will is that he live and we were
committed to his life, it became
apparent quickly that God was
doing something. One of the verses
I hung on to was “He who began
a good work in you is faithful to
complete it … ,” Steve said.
“I saw that God began a good
work in Benjamin. I would be
really surprised – even though the
doctors say only time will tell – if
there is any permanent damage.
And if there is, we’ll be prepared
with God’s help to deal with that
as well.”